Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning Epona ================================================= Index: 1. What is Epona? 2. Where can I find Epona? 3. Does Epona run under Windows? 4. Can I send you questions without reading the FAQ, INSTALL or README files? 6. I get an error like "Makefile not found". 7. I typed "./epona" at the command line, but nothing happened! 8. I need support for the XYZ protocol. 9. Whenever I start Epona, I get a message on my IRC server saying "connection refused" or something similar, and Epona gives an error message from the server saying "Closing Link: ...". 10. My IRC server is giving me messages like "Connection to services.whatever.net[127.0.0.1] activated" and then "Access denied -- no N line". Why? 11. When I say "/connect services.*", it doesn't work! 12. Epona complains in the logfile about being unable to load the default language. 14. Epona starts up okay, but if I try to register a nickname, it comes back with "Sorry, registration failed." 15. Epona crashed with a segmentation fault. 16. Epona's channel mode setting doesn't work. I can't set modes with OperServ, and every time ChanServ tries to set a mode, my server reverses the change. 17. Using the OperServ JUPE command results in server messages like "Server juped.server introduced by non-hub server services.my.net". 18. I can't use the ADMIN command to add services admins--it tells me "Permission denied." 20. Epona reports (via /stats u or /msg OperServ STATS) a different number of users online than I get from doing /lusers. 21. Epona ignored the SET SUCCESSOR setting and deleted a channel when the founder expired. 22. Trying to use OperServ gives me "Access denied", but my nick is in the operserv::root directive and is registered, and I've identified for my nick. 23. Epona spricht kein Deutsch!, etc. (Epona doesn't speak my language!) 24. I selected a language other than English, but sometimes Epona sends responses in English instead. 25. I've found a bug that's not mentioned here or in the BUGS files. What should I do? 26. Your Services program doesn't do XYZ like DALnet Services. What's wrong? 27. I've got a great new idea for Epona. Do you want it? 28. Examples of features I have been asked about and why I won't add (or haven't yet added) them--so don't ask me about them. 29. How do I add bots to BotServ? 30. When I used the OperServ RAW command, Epona and/or my network crashed, or did weird things! Please fix this bug! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is Epona? Epona is a set of services for IRC networks. See the README file for more information. 2. Where can I find Epona? The latest version can always be found at the official Epona distribution site: ftp://ftp.pegsoft.net/epona/ 3. Does Epona run under Windows? No. And I won't port it to Windows anyway, so don't bother to ask. 4. Can I send you questions without reading the FAQ, INSTALL or README files? Sure you can. It's one of the easiest ways I know to get your messages ignored. 6. I get an error like "Makefile not found". You forgot to run the configure script first. See the INSTALL file for compilation instructions. 7. I typed "./epona" at the command line, but nothing happened! Epona puts itself in the background when it starts, so you get your shell prompt right back. Meanwhile, Epona will continue setting up, then connect to the IRC server specified in epona.conf (or on the command line). If it doesn't connect, you probably specified the wrong server type when running the configure script. (Also make sure that you are actually running one of the supported servers. There are a gazillion different variations on the basic IRC protocol out there, and I have neither the time nor the desire to add support for them.) The recommended server, under which Epona has been developed, is the latest Bahamut. DreamForge 4.6.7 will also work fine, but it's a bit obsolete nowadays. Derivatives of Bahamut and DreamForge may also work, if they don't change the server<->server protocol too much; contact their authors for more information. As always, you can check the log file (epona.log by default) for error messages. 8. I need support for the XYZ protocol. Tough luck, unless you want to write support for it yourself. See the previous answer. 9. Whenever I start Epona, I get a message on my IRC server saying "connection refused" or something similar, and Epona gives an error message from the server saying "Closing Link: ...". See seection 3 of the INSTALL file. 10. My IRC server is giving me messages like "Connection to services.whatever.net[127.0.0.1] activated" and then "Access denied -- no N line". Why? This is typically caused by including a port number in the C:line for services, which tells your server to try to autoconnect to it (depending on the class (Y:line) settings). This is not what you want, because Epona will connect to the server itself, but does not listen for servers to connect to it. The solution is to remove the port number from the C:line. 11. When I say "/connect services.*", it doesn't work! Of course not. RTFM (Read The Fine Manual), and see the previous answer. 12. Epona complains in the logfile about being unable to load the default language. You forgot to run "make install". 14. Epona starts up okay, but if I try to register a nickname, it comes back with "Sorry, registration failed." Make sure you've selected the correct IRC server type via the configure script; see question 9 for details. 15. Epona crashed with a segmentation fault. See if you can reproduce this by doing a certain sequence of things. If so, please report it to me (see part 6 of README file). If not, you're probably out of luck; if you like, you can report it to me anyway, but chances are it won't get fixed if I don't have instructions on reproducing it. If you do have such a problem, you may find the crontab utility useful for dealing with it. 16. Epona's channel mode setting doesn't work. I can't set modes with OperServ, and every time ChanServ tries to set a mode, my server reverses the change. Make sure EVERY servers on your network has a U: line (or is set as super-server, or whatever your ircd calls it) for services in the ircd config file. See section 3 of the INSTALL file for more information. 17. Using the OperServ JUPE command results in server messages like "Server juped.server introduced by non-hub server services.my.net". You need to allow the services' pseudo-server to be a hub in your ircd config file. See section 3 of the INSTALL file for more information. 18. I can't use the ADMIN command to add services admins--it tells me "Permission denied." Did you define yourself as one of the services roots? You may do so using the operserv::root directive in epona.conf. 20. Epona reports (via /stats u or /msg OperServ STATS) a different number of users online than I get from doing /lusers. Epona doesn't count its own pseudo-clients (NickServ, ChanServ, etc.) in its user count. 21. Epona ignored the SET SUCCESSOR setting and deleted a channel when the founder expired. Normally, this is because the successor had too many channels registered; in this case, you will see an entry in the log file like the following: [date] Successor (SuccessorNick) of channel #somechannel owns too many channels, deleting channel #somechannel If you don't get a message like this or you can verify that the successor wasn't running into the channel limit, please report it using the bug-reporting procedure below (see section 6 of the README file). 22. Trying to use OperServ gives me "Access denied", but my nick is in the operserv::root directive and is registered, and I've identified for my nick. You need to be opered (i.e. user mode +o) to access OperServ. 23. Epona spricht kein Deutsch!, etc. (Epona doesn't speak my language!) See section 5 of the README file. 24. I selected a language other than English, but sometimes Epona sends responses in English instead. Some language files are not complete--in other words, they don't have a translation of every message Epona uses, but only some of them. In this case, the missing messages will be displayed in English. You can either wait for the primary translator to provide me with a translation, or do the translation yourself and send me the messages translated into your language. 25. I've found a bug that's not mentioned here or in the README or BUGS files. What should I do? See section 6 of the README file. 26. Your services program doesn't do XYZ like DALnet (or other) services. What's wrong? Nothing is wrong, except your expectations. Epona is a completely different program from that used on DALnet; they are similar in concept only. 27. I've got a great new idea for Epona. Do you want it? I'm always interested in hearing new ideas. HOWEVER, I have very specific plans for what to include and not to include in Epona. As a rule, I don't add anything that can be equivalently done by other means, or that I don't consider useful; see below for examples of things I don't plan to add. My general intent is for Epona to provide as much functionality as possible--while staying as lean as possible. So features which are arguably beneficial will tend to be added, while features of limited or no benefit or which can be equally provided by something else already in use will tend to be passed over. 28. Examples of features I have been asked about and why I won't add (or haven't yet added) them--so don't ask me about them: - An option to make ChanServ stay in some/all registered channels: I see absolutely no necessity for this feature, since BotServ already does this anyway. - A "current time" field in NickServ and ChanServ INFO displays: Most people have clocks of some sort either on their computer screens or on their walls (or both), and all IRC servers, as well as Epona, have a command to return the server's current time. Thus a current-time field in INFO displays would simply take up extra space for no reason. 29. How do I add bots to BotServ? (Believe it or not, this is really the most frequently asked question.) Read /msg BotServ HELP and /msg BotServ HELP BOT. 30. When I used the OperServ RAW command, Epona and/or my network crashed, or did weird things! Please fix this bug! "That's not a bug, it's a feature." Have you ever typed /msg OperServ HELP RAW? It's clearly stated there that this command is dangerous and that its use may result in very bad things. And that's why this command has been disabled by default. If you enabled and used it, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN. All help requests will be ignored, even if the problem happens not immediately.